Context:

Key Concepts:

What is God's righteousness observed doing?:

directing Jesus to seek out and empowering to heal those with unclean spirits

commanding with authority through one who has surrendered His

What does this tell us about God's righteousness?:

It is not shy about sending Jesus to the very place that will ultimately reject and seek to destroy Him because of it. The synagogue is the heart of the Jewish community, it is where the battle for the hearts and souls of the redeemed must begin.

(see notes below)

The righteousness of Father and Son is that they are pointing one to another. The Father is revealed to us by the Son, the Son is revealed to us by the Father. If we do not know one it is because we know not the other. The Holy Spirit gifts this complimentary knowledge, guides us in it and brings it to fruitful remembrance.

How is man reacting?:

questioning who Jesus might be and where His doctrine is from

being amazed by the authority by which He commands

fame of these events is going out to all region

Notes:

In consideration of God's righteousness the question here becomes, where do the unclean spirits come from? why are they allowed? why are they being dealt with individually? The answer frankly is that we are not immediately going to know this nor come to this understanding on our own; God has put a priority on what information HE is willing to distribute first.

Our understanding of how any of this could be righteous begins with the prerequisite presumption that God in every infinite respect is doing this (whatever it is) exactly right. From that presumption we can conclude that because of what we know about HIS loving and creative nature, that oddities/collisions in the fabric of our limited human understanding are signals in the grand understanding that there is much more that God has to consider in all of this than what we are allowing ourselves to be aware of.

Presumption does not end at presumption/trust, rather it is the point where our seeking with the light of what we do know about the person God and what HE is continuing to reveal to us as we step out into HIS revelation begins.

The origin of the unclean or demonic spirit is debatable. Some claim fallen angels. As I understand from kjv@2Peter:2:4, the fallen angels are chained and bound awaiting the fiery pit. It may be that some were left unchained for this time. Others point to the souls of a speculated combined race of part angel part human giants preceding the great flood called Nephilim. These too are hotly contested as scripture does suggest that angels are neither male or female and therefore likely cannot reproduce. That pre-flood man (or else Satan) was able to genetically engineer something to this effect would be astonishing given that these are spiritual beings, but there was sufficient cause for God to destroy the world that then was regardless.

If the scriptures were left purposely unclear about demonic origin instead focusing largely upon their allegiance to Satan and recognition of the opposing hand of God, would that intended confusion be unrighteous? Would not such knowledge distract us from HIS greater cause?

Why did Jesus not come to destroy demons? The oddity is the suggestion that even something as wicked as demons could in some respect despite themselves and their master serve some righteous purpose (as indicated by God's allowance for them to remain). As they are a direct reflection of the Deceiver, is it not best that we are at least vaguely aware of his presence and mission in order to more fully know of God's?

If I had to guess why not destroy evil, I say that it may be better to strengthen man to the point where it/they no longer have influence over him. The only way to do that is for us to become Jesus' possession and in thereby Jesus' authority.

Key Messages:

What does this say about our present condition?

The religious centers where people are intending to be closest to God are at this time the places that they would likely be the farthest. How would they know if not for God showing up at their podium to teach them otherwise?

The question can be asked, if we did know these things more fully, would we be any better off? would we be any more loyal and faithful? would we be any more compelled or embolden to proceed in the pathway of love and truth?

Authority often takes form in the things that we gravely fear. To witness one who without fear or reservation immediately and without struggle prevails over that which we fear is astonishing authority. To know that this is the very creator's power issued in confirmation and not (for this time) the one's own power is utterly earth shattering.

It is fairly easy for us to compartmentalize our perception of how much satanic activity is going on around us. The Jews certainly acknowledged and were well aware of it (as are most other cultures), they were likely shocked though seeing the amount of activity surrounding them here as the light of Jesus further exposed it.

Fame will be proven in these gospels to be a jagged and dull blade as the majority of fame will be spread for the wrong reasons. Rumors, legends, lore, exaggeration, idolatrous innuendo and false worship, all are historic blazes racing ahead of the actual truth when it comes to man.